The first night of WWE WrestleMania XL is in the books, and it was a memorable night for a few different reasons.
One of these was when WWE Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley vs. Becky Lynch opened the premium live event at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although many had speculated it was Lynch’s time to dethrone Ripley, who has been champion since WrestleMania 39, Ripley went over the fellow top star who had strep throat.
While speaking on Wrestling Observer Radio, Dave Meltzer noted WWE planned to do this match a year ago. He then speculated what WWE’s original winner would be from then and how it changed to now.
Meltzer: “I think that when this program started, Becky probably was going to win. But Rhea has gotten so hot that they probably made the choice.”
Bryan Alvarez: “I actually don’t know if they plan that from the beginning. Because I don’t know, maybe they did. I just know I looked at this card. And I thought, you know, Rhea’s winning.”
Meltzer: “This is a plan almost a year ago. When it was first planned I figured Rhea gets the year and then Becky was going to win, but Rhea got so hot that I could see it changing. As the time approached my gut was that Becky should win. I mean Rhea, I’m sorry that Rhea should win because it’s just not the right time for her to lose I guess it’s the easiest way to put it but you can do either way. I mean, it doesn’t matter.”
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